The
declaration by Prince Charles that Britain should remain
GE-Free is welcome news to the 80% of New Zealanders who
want the preservation of GE-Free food production in this
country.

"The Life Sciences Network have so far
dismissed the views of the majority of New Zealanders,
scientists like David Bellamy, chefs, and leaders in the New
Zealand food industry," says Jon Carapiet from GE Free NZ in
food and environment.

" But we warn them against
further attempts to marginalise the public, especially when
Prince Charles is voicing the same concerns as former UK
environment Minister Michael Meacher that contamination as a
result of GE release will destroy organics and GE-Free
production".

We repeat the call on the Labour government
from last weeks national conference: The protection of
GE-free production must be enshrined in law. " Until that
protection of "future opportunities" is in place, the
moratorium on applications for GE release must continue."

"If it is becoming clear that even the UK can benefit
from a GE-free future, surely New Zealand must also be
protected and this opportunity preserved for future
generations."

ENDS

Contact Jon Carapiet 09 815
3370

GENETICALLY-MODIFIED crops should be banned in
Britain, the Prince of Wales told The Western Mail
yesterday.

Speaking as he officially opened the Western
Mail and Echo's new GB 18 million pound press in Cardiff
Bay, the Prince said, "We need a GM-free Wales - and a
GM-free Britain as well, for that matter."

And he
dismissed the merits of a claim that moves to ban so-called
"Frankenstein foods", in Wales alone, were illegal.

The
World Trade Organisation is threatening legal action against
the European Union over its refusal to allow imports of
unlabelled GM produce from America.

The claims of
illegality come from the European Commission, and were
repeated by EU Farm Commissioner Franz Fischler at last
week's Royal Welsh Show.

The Prince's reaction, as he
fuelled the debate on GM crops, was blunt: "It's
ridiculous," he said.

Prince Charles took his dislike of
GM crops to the ultimate level yesterday as he called for
the British ban. He has frequently expressed strong views on
the issue.

Former
environment minister Michael Meacher says evidence of
"massive" cross-contamination shows the UK must make a stark
choice between growing organic or genetically-modified
crops.

Speaking on a tour of Canada, where organic farmers
are suing biotech giants for spoiling their produce by
preventing them calling it GM-free, he said the two types
of cultivation could not exist side by side.

"The problem
is massive. I have spent the whole day seeing several farms
and several examples where there has been very extensive
contamination, particularly of oil seed rape," he has told
the BBC.

"The fact is that it goes everywhere. There is no
question that there can be a short separation distance -
that is clearly not the case."

"The buzz word in Britain
is that we can have 'co-existence' between the GM sector
and the organic or conventional sector. What Canada shows,
who have been trying to do this for the last seven years, is
that it is absolutely impossible."

"You have to make a
choice, and the choice frankly is: are we going to go for
GM, for which there is no market and no-one wants to buy at
the expense of organic, which people do want to buy and for
which there is a tremendous market?

"You cannot have
both."

He said the oil seed rape blew in the wind over
"considerable distances"

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